Yotsuba no Basuke
by shiiki-sama
Summary: The Ayases are away for the summer leaving poor Yotsuba to play by herself. As she soon discovers a basketball court at the park, she meets Taiga Kagami. Basketball and silly shenanigans ensue with Shintarou Midorima and many others.
1. Yotsuba & Kagami

Yotsubato! and Kuroko no Basuke belong to Kiyohiko Azuma and Tadatoshi Fujimaki.

* * *

It was quiet in the Koiwais' home. Dull and mundane as it always was when Yotsuba's father sat down in front of the computer screen working. Much to Yotsuba's dismay, the Ayases' were visiting their grandparents for the summer, so no one was home. Yotsuba sat in the TV room by herself playing with Juralumin.

She looked out the window as if that would make the Ayases come home sooner.

"Juralumin, I'm bored." The small girl said to her stuffed bear. "Are you bored?" She hugged it tightly and it responded.

"_Maaaa!_"

"Yeah! I'm bored, too! Let's go check up on daddy!" Yotsuba climbed up the stairs and into her dad's office.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Yotsuba called out to him. She crawled under the table and popped up, squeezing out from under the table and onto her dad's lap and looked at the computer screen. "Are you done with work yet?"

"Nope. Not yet." Mr. Koiwai replied.

"But, I'm bored."

"I'll be done soon. Why don't you go to the park? I'll come get you when it's time for lunch. Okay?"

"Okay!"

And with that, she scampered down the stairs and grabbed her bag and Juralumin in tow, placing her into her bag. Yotsuba slipped on her shoes, heading out the door.

"Bye, Daddy!" Yotsuba shouted. "I'll see you soon!"

Once she arrived at the park, she was excited to play on all the play structures. Yotsuba slid down the slide, swung on the swings and spun on the merry-go-round. She then climbed the monkey bars and jumped on the shaky bridge. After that, she made a sandcastle out of sticks, sad, and leaves. She picked up a stick and drew a picture of herself and Juralumin.

It was only an hour that she had been in the park. Yotsuba played on every play structure more than once and began to grow bored again.

"*_Sigh*_… Juralumin, I'm bored." She said to her teddy bear. "I want to go home, but daddy said he'd come to get me by lunch. What should we do?"

She glanced around the park and saw two open basketball courts on the opposite side of the park. She had no idea what they were or what they were even called, but she was so excited she ran up to get a better view. Both sides of the court had tall, steel poles with a backboard. The backboard was rough and rigid due to weather and excessive play. Right below it was an orange loop and a worn-out net dangling below it.

Yotsuba walked up to the hoop and looked under, seeing an opening from above. She wondered what it was used for.

_Can Juralumin fit there? _Yotsuba thought to herself, tilting her head curiously. She looked at Juralumin and back at the court. She took the bear out of her shoulder bag and looked up at the hoop again. She started tossing Juralumin into the air, trying to get the bear into the hoop. After several attempts, Juralumin finally makes it into the hoop and down into the net. Finally! The shot was a success. Only one problem: Juralumin never came back down.

"Uh-oh," Yotsuba began jumping as high as she can to try and reach Juralumin, but to no avail. She was completely out of breath and panted heavily, walking away to grab a handful of sticks and stones, retreating back to the court throwing the rocks and the sticks at the hoop, trying to get Juralumin out of the net. Sadly, the only part of the bear that managed to break free from the net was her head and one of her paws sticking out. She was close to getting her friend out from the imprisoning net.

Still no luck.

Yotsuba then picked up a slightly larger stick and used that to try and reach Juralumin. But it still wasn't high enough. She stood there for a long time and pondered what else she could use to get Juralumin down with. Then she had an idea. She jumped onto the pole and started to climb but looked over and remembered what was supporting the hoop. Sulking, she slid back down and looked up at Juralumin. Then she also remembered her dad, Mr. Koiwai, would be going to the park to come back for her in time for lunch.

It was then that she began panicking and shouting throughout the park, flailing her arms. "HELP! HELP!"

Taiga Kagami had just gotten back from practice. He felt a bit exhausted but shooting hoops for a bit wouldn't hurt. As soon as he arrived at the park, he appeared to have missed something. Who was this green-haired girl and why was she calling out for help? Kagami slowed to a stop when the little girl ran up to him and pulled at his shorts.

"HELP! JURALUMIN WON'T COME OUT OF THE NET!" She reached for his hand and ran, leading him to the basketball courts.

Kagami wasn't sure what was happening but he followed after her, after all, it sounded pretty urgent. But, who was Juralumin?

As he was taken to the basketball court, the small girl pointed up at the hoop. He noticed a teddy bear curled up, upside down in the net with its head and arms sticking out in random parts of the net.

"No matter what I do, I can't get her down. My Daddy is going to be really mad when he sees what I did." The girl told him. "Can you get her down, please?" She looked up at him pleadingly.

Kagami had no choice but to comply. The girl had asked nicely and there was no way he would let some small girl's doll remain stuck there; he was planning on using the court later.

"Here. Hold this for me." He said, handing her his basketball and walked up to the basketball hoop. He jumped up and hit the net from the bottom to get the bear out of the net.

After a couple more jumps, and the toy flew out of the net. Kagami reached for the bear but felt himself about to fall over. He grabbed the hoop but something on the backboard snapped and the redhead landed on his back. On one hand was the girl's bear and the other was the hoop. This was the second time he had broken a basketball court.

"AAAAHHHH!" He shouted, remaining on the ground with his arms and legs sprawled out.

The girl laughed at him. "You broke it! Hahaha!" Then she lay down next to him, her arms and legs sprawled out the same way. She stared up at the sky as the silence between them was somewhat comfortable. She laid there for a few more minutes before sitting up and holding his basketball.

"What's this?"

"Oh, that." It was Kagami's turn to sit up. "It's a basketball."

"Basketball? So it goes in that net!" She said. "Right?"

"Right." _Am I seriously having this conversation with a four-year-old? _He watched her bounce the ball.

"It's so bouncy!" The green-haired girl giggled.

"It sure is!" The redhead stood up and grabbed the ball as she bounced it again and began to dribble it. "Wanna see how it works?" He asked.

"Yeah! Yeah!" The girl exclaimed. "I wanna see!"

Kagami then proceeded to dribble the ball around, doing a few shifts and turns before making a slam dunk on the opposite side of the court.

"WOW! SO COOL!" The girl cheered. "CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW TO DO THAT!?"

"Sure, but," He looked around before asking. "Where's your parents?"

"Parrots?"

"No, your _parents_," Kagami said again. "You know, your mom; your dad?"

"Daddy is working so he'll come get me at lunchtime."

"Your mom?"

"Oh, I don't have a mommy." She replied, "My Daddy said I was adopted."

Hearing the child say that so nonchalantly shocked him a bit. But, he didn't want to judge since she wasn't really bothered by it.

"Hey, tall man." The girl tugged at his shirt. "I don't know your name."

Tall? Was he that tall? Well, he was in Seirin's Basketball Team and he managed to make a few dunks. He supposed he was pretty tall.

"Oh, my name?" Kagami had forgotten about that. "Taiga Kagami. I'm a first-year in Seirin's High School and I'm part of their basketball team.

"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!" She said. "I don't go to school yet and I'm six!" She held up her palm to him with all her fingers spread out to indicate the number, five. "Are you five or…?"

"Six! Six!" Still her hands said five.

"Alright, alright, you're six."

"Can you teach me how to put the ball in like you did earlier?"

Kagami dribbled the ball a bit. "Sure, I'll go easy on you since you're pretty small."

"Yay!" Yotsuba cheered.

The two of them spent nearly the whole afternoon on the court. Kagami didn't have much trouble teaching Yotsuba how to play basketball, but she did hit her face with the ball because she didn't catch it in time.

"Ball! Ball!" Yotsuba cried out. Kagami passed her the ball and watched as it bounced, hitting her in the face.

"Urk!" The redhead cringed. He wasn't sure what to do if she began crying, but he waited for her reaction.

She looked up at him, her face red from the ball hitting her. She stared at him in complete shock. "What was that!?"

"EHH!?" _How does that not faze her? It looked like it hit her pretty hard…_

"Teach me the jumpy thing! The jumpy thing!" She had completely forgotten all about what had just happened.

"You mean a dunk?"

"Yeah! That one!"

"Alright," he said. "Now pick up the ball. I'll help you shoot it in."

Yotsuba picked up the ball and Kagami went behind her, picking her up and going over to the court as Yotsuba dropped the ball and kept her hands on the hoop.

"Let me go!" She chirped.

Kagami let go of her underarms and she hung there for a good, long moment.

"Put me down!" She told him." That was fun!" Then she picked up Juralumin. "Her turn!"

What do you take me for, an amusement park?!"

As Kagami had just given Juralumin her share of dunking, he turned around to see a small group of children that were around Yotsuba's age crowding around him.

"I want a turn!" A small girl with short, dark hair and two dot eyes shouted.

"I want to try, too!" A little boy cried.

"Single file, everyone!" Yotsuba exclaimed.

"I'm not a play thing…" Kagami said as a huge, anime sweat drop slid down his head.

It was already in the middle of the afternoon; Koiwai had just finished his work and shut down the computer. It was time for him to go get his daughter from the park in time for lunch. He put on some pants and slipped on his shoes before heading out the door, locking it behind him. The park was several blocks away so it didn't take him very long to get there.

He looked around for any sign of his daughter wandering around the park. With her green hair, she was hard to miss. Koiwai eventually spotted her asleep on the park bench, laying down on a red-haired man's lap. The red-head kept his eyes on the children playing on a nearby court with a basketball.

Koiwai approached him a bit and cleared his throat. It didn't take too long for the other male to notice him.

"I'm sorry, but can I have my daughter back?" he said, pointing to Yotsuba who was snoozing on his lap.

"Oh! Yeah, sure," The man began to poke Yotsuba to wake her up. "Hey, Yotsuba-chan, your Dad's here."

Yotsuba slapped his hand away. "NO!" She grumbled and covered her face.

"I'm sorry, she doesn't like to be woken up." Koiwai said. "I can carry her. I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"No, not at all." The man replied, "She did get her bear stuck on the basketball court, though."

"I see." Koiwai picked up his daughter into his arms. "What was your name, by the way? It was rude of me not to ask."

"Taiga Kagami." The other said to him. "I'd prefer to just be called, 'Kagami'. And you?"

"Koiwai-san would be fine." He said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Same here."

Koiwai nodded with a smile. "I'll be going then." He said and picked up Juralumin. He was about to walk away, but he turned around.

"…Actually, I was just wondering if you would like to join us for lunch? It's payment for taking care of Yotsuba for me."

"What? No, I couldn't."

"I insist. It'd be nice for her to eat with a new friend for a change." Koiwai explained. "Also, I think she'd feel bad when she wakes up."

Kagami thought for a moment. Koiwai was pretty nice about it. Also, he didn't want Yotsuba to feel bad and it wasn't often that he was invited to have lunch with anyone either. It wouldn't hurt to have some lunch.

"I guess I can make some time for lunch." Kagami replied, getting up from the bench. He jogged over to the basketball court to retrieve his basketball the children had abandoned over a jungle gym before retreating back to Koiwai.

The two men left the park and headed back to Koiwai's place. On the way there, a couple of things crossed Koiwai's mind: Who was this man and why did he look so familiar? He wasn't surprised to find Yotsuba befriending other people of a different age group. But Koiwai couldn't shake the feeling of who this redhead was.

This was going to be an interesting summer for Yotsuba and her father.

-END-

* * *

It's been a while since I made some fanfiction and well, here you are. I have been taking care of assignments and I wrote this on the bus ride home and half of which,_ at_ home. College life. Such a struggle. Finals are just around the corner and I gotta study for my finals next month and by then thanksgiving break! Can't wait for that. This semester has gone by pretty fast; it's kinda surprising when you remember the first day of class like it was yesterday. I still need to continue my other crossover fic, _When You Get Drunk, You Wake Up To The Future, _a crossover between Gintama and Hetalia, my two other favorite anime. It's on a long hiatus since I had gotten writer's block all this time. OTL I can only hope I find some inspiration soon. Make sure to check that out if you're a fan of both anime or just curious to see my other work.

**Next Chapter: Yotsuba & Midorima **


	2. Yotsuba & Midorima

It was another day for Shintarou Midorima, he was sitting on a rickshaw as his teammate, Takao Kazunari was riding up front. Takao was always the one in charge of lugging it around wherever they went. One thing's for sure, though, something was different about Midorima; he was missing his lucky item.

It was a common sight that Midorima carried a certain item from a little bear to a potted plant, he never left home without it. And today he was rather cranky about not being able to have one today. It was a first world problem if he didn't have it. Shutoku was having a home game today against another school. It wasn't exactly well-known but the team was only starting out. Without Midorima's precious, lucky item, their team was doomed. Unfortunately for Midorima, it was a fairly rare item he needed for today's horoscope.

"Takao," he said.

"Yeah, what is it?" The dark-haired man responded.

"Find me a four-leaf." Midorima demanded more than asked.

"Eh?! Where on earth am I going to find one in that amount of time?!" Takao said. "Shin-chan, you know we have a game today."

"I know, but without my lucky item, my shots will miss."

Takao let out an exasperated sigh. Was he seriously acting like it meant that much to the team? They were better off without. One of the other teammates were planning on breaking it since it was always in the way.

"Shin-chan," Takao began. "I'm not really sure you'll be getting a lucky item today. I mean, it's not like you'll die without it. Besides, it won't miraculously appear out of the clear, blue sky."

And with that, a scream rang out, breaking the comfortable silence from the quiet neighborhood.

"AAAHH!"

Takao jumped, suddenly skidding on the brakes, causing Midorima to stumble over in the back. "Takao, you idiot!" He yelled.

Then, a small, green-haired girl ran out of the house nearby screaming, "GET IT OFF! DADDY, GET IT OFF!"

"Yotsuba, I WAS JUST KIDDING! THERE'S NO SPIDER!" The dark-haired man shouted to his daughter. He stopped when he saw Midorima standing by the gate.

"C-Can I help you?" He asked, confused.

"I would like to borrow Yotsuba for today's game." Midorima said urgently.

"Eh?! Shin-chan!" Takao was surprised at how straight-forward his teammate was being. Wait… the lucky item wasn't an object, but… a person? And, a small child at that.

"You'll have to forgive him, he's-"

"Today's lucky item for Cancers is 'Yotsuba'."

The man stared as if he were crazy, which he probably sounded like with his explanation about horoscopes. "Why don't you go find a four-leaf clover?" he said.

"You don't understand! I need her! _Nanodayo!_"

This took Takao by surprise. His friend was actually… begging?! Today was an interesting day indeed.

On close inspection the two men who were standing at his house both had on matching orange tracksuits that had black letters on the side which read 'Shutoku' on the left side of their jackets.

Shutoku… It was a famous high school in Tokyo_. So this was the basketball team Jumbo was talking about._ Before he could speak up, his daughter cut him off with an excited, yet curious tone in her voice.

"I'm a lucky item? What's that?!" She looked up at the man with dark-green hair. "Hey, Mister! We both have green hair! We're matching!" she shouted. "What's your name?"

The green-haired man twitched and pushed back his glasses. "Shintarou Midorima." He said. "You're today's lucky item. I would like to borrow you."

"Shin-chan…" The other said a bit nervously.

"I'm a lucky item? Cool! Where are we going?" Yotsuba asked him.

"Shutoku," Midorima replied. "There's a game today and I need my lucky item."

Yotsuba didn't know what on earth he was talking about. But, being a lucky item sounded like a lot of fun.

"A lucky item…" Yotsuba repeated to herself, her eyes gleaming. "Can we go, Daddy?"

Koiwai looked at his daughter. Her expectant eyes were just waiting for him to say, 'yes'. He was done with work for today and they had nothing else to do. Also, it was probably going to be Yotsuba's first ever trip to seeing a basketball game and they haven't really stepped out of the house together for a long time. There was no harm in tagging along with a couple of high school students.

"I don't see why not. Sure, let's go!"

"Yay! You hear that? I get to go!" Yotsuba said to Takao.

"Yeah! You get to watch! Basketball's really cool!" Takao replied.

"It is!" she piped up. "I learned how to do a slam dunk the other day!"

"Wow, really?!"

Koiwai looked up at Midorima. "Please give us a few minutes." He said, opening the gate. "Cone inside if you'd like. Come on, Yotsuba, let's get ready."

"Yay!" She cheered again before following her dad back into the house.

"Well, well, Shin-chan. Guess today is your lucky day."

"Of course it is. It's a good day for Cancers."

Several minutes later, Koiwai and his daughter were ready to go. Yotsuba was wearing a white shirt with long, orange sleeves. She had on her shoulder bag with Juralumin safely on the pouch. Koiwai had pants on this time and wore a grey cardigan.

As Yotsuba stepped out of the house, she noticed the rickshaw first thing. "What's that?" she asked.

"We came all this way here in that." Takao explained. "And I'm driving it."

"WOOOOW! Can I go in?"

"Of course," Midorima replied. "You are the lucky item after all."

"Koiwai-san?" Takao nodded over to the back. "You can jump in if you want."

"Thanks, but… I'd rather bike there myself." He said. "It looks pretty small and you're better off with just those two."

"That's good to hear." Takao said, but was actually relieved to hear Koiwai decline his offer.

Yotsuba was trying to climb onto the rickshaw but was having a hard time. Still, she kept trying to get in on her own and continued to struggle.

"Would you like some help?"

Takao looked rather worried as she had hard time getting on. After what seemed to be a long time, Koiwai eventually helped her get in.

"Let's go!" Yotsuba shouted as Midorima hopped in after her. Koiwai pulled out his bike ahead of time and had just sat down.

It was Yotsuba's first time riding in a rickshaw and her first of anything in almost a long time since her days without the Ayases. Koiwai was happy Yotsuba was having load of fun this week. Just the other day she befriended a redhead she had just met at the park, now she was about to go see a real basketball match in person. She was a very lucky girl indeed.

It was at least half an hour later and still no sign of Midorima or Takao anywhere. Their team captain, Taisuke Otsubo, was not impressed.

"Game's about to start, we'll have just have to start without them." He said, rubbing his temples.

One of his teammates had already gotten annoyed by this and finally snapped. "That's it. Someone get me a pineapple so I can throw it in Midorima's face when they get here."

"I'll give you all the pineapples you need." His friend, Kimura added, as if that was going to better the situation.

"And, maybe another pineapple to that little item of his."

One by one, each player paused and stared at him and the locker room began to slowly quiet down. The blond was beginning to feel uncomfortable when he noticed Kimura staring at him as well. Confused, he looked around at his teammates, realizing it wasn't him they were looking at but behind him.

He turned and saw a small, green-haired girl with four-pigtails holding a teddy bear in her arms. She kept a happy smiled on her face, not noticing the glances that came her way and shouted, "I'M THE LUCKY ITEM!"

The whole locker room was shot down with silence and grew pale with the expression as if they had seen a ghost.

Miyaji had his face buried in his hands in remorse, slumping onto a nearby bench as his friend sat next to him, patting his back. "How could I have said that, I'd never harm a child."

"We can still give her a pineapple, for a fruit salad."

"There you two are. Hurry and change into your uniforms." Their captain said as Midorima and Takao stepped into the locker room. "Game's about to start."

"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!" Yotsuba shouted to the other teammates.

"What's today's lucky item, a child?" Otsubo gave Midorima a look. "I didn't think you'd stoop so low as to kidnap a child."

"Her father is in the stands. We didn't steal her." Takao explained, defending his friend. "You could even ask him…"

Their coach, Masaaki Nakatani, was a middle-aged man in his forties. He may not look it, but he was formerly part of Japan's national basketball team. He was obviously ignoring the outbursts from earlier but he was fully aware of Yotsuba's presence.

"It's almost time," He said to his team.

They had a quick recap about their strategy, every one of them, inattentively listened as their coach explained the situation. It wasn't until a small sound broke them from their train of thought.

"_Maaaa!_"

They looked down at Yotsuba who was sitting crossed-legged on the floor by Midorima's feet. The girl giggled and hugged Juralumin.

It's impossible to get mad at someone this cute!' The whole team thought in unison. Midorima merely pushed back his glasses, saying nothing. "…."

They continued their discussion for another while before it was time to head out.

For the most part, Yotsuba was excited. And she had no idea what basketball was about or what it even was. All she knew was that she couldn't wait to watch and obliged to be a lucky item. As they headed out, Yotsuba had noticed something about Midorima which she hadn't earlier: his fingers on his left hand was taped with bandages.

"What happened to your hand, did you hurt yourself?" she asked.

The male looked at his taped fingers. "I must not influence them. "My shots depend on my nails."

"Wooow," Yotsuba was intrigued. "So that's what nails do."

'_No, they don't._' The team thought, unamused.

At the bench, they all huddled together, with Yotsuba including herself somehow. Otsubo looked at her and said, "Want to wish us good luck?"

"Yeah!" She cheered. "Let's do this thing!"

"YEAH!" They shouted and stepped out to the court, facing the opposing team. Both sides lined up with a somewhat slightly larger difference in number.

Kimura glanced down saw Yotsuba standing right next to him. "Hey! Y-You shouldn't be here!"

Both sides laughed at what they had just witnessed.

"Midorima," Otsubo scolded him. "Please tell your precious lucky item to go sit with the coach and the others.

The green-haired player sighed and went to retrieve Yotsuba and brought her over to the miscellaneous teammates sitting on the bench.

"Stay here until we're finished." Midorima told her sternly. "_Nanodayo_." Then he walked back to the court.

In the stands somewhere, Koiwai let out an exasperated sigh. He felt worried, hoping she wouldn't cause any more trouble for the team. Otherwise, he'd try to find a way down there to get her.

During the first quarter of the game, Yotsuba watched as the ball was moving all around the court being passed, shot and bounced around as both teams were chasing it and jumping to reach it, wanting to score. It was pretty intense and she cheered along with the benched players as Midorima shot a three-pointer, the fall flawlessly making a loud, _swoosh_ sound as it flew into the hoop.

"Wooow…" Yotsuba was amazed by how swiftly the ball landed into the hoop, scoring three more points for Shutoku. She didn't know why but she felt like she knew the name of the opposing team but had forgotten the name. It sounded oddly familiar, though.

"This is very interesting…" She pulled on the sleeves of one of the players sitting right next to her and pointed at the court.

"Hey, how does he make that board thing change numbers?"

"Uh? Well, that was a three-pointer." The player explained. "We get three points more than the other team when the ball goes into the hoop. Especially, behind the three-point line."

"So was he standing on it?"

"He's pretty annoying but he managed to make it in even when he was really far."

"Ohh! I see!" Yotsuba replied, nodding. "I understand now."

"Do you…?" The player asked, a sweat drop sliding down his head.

It wasn't until the second quarter that Yotsuba started to dose off. It had gotten harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open.

Koiwai was about to stand. He knew the look on her face and the actions she did meant it was nap time. As he got up, one of the players noticed and began talking to her. She rubbed her eyes and exchanged a few words with him and nodded, rubbing her eyes. Koiwai wanted to know what they were talking about but realized as soon as he saw his daughter lay down on the bench, the player she was just talking to, brought out his jacket and placed it over her body as she was starting to nap. Yotsuba may have asked something of him because he nodded and pat her head. She smiled and nuzzled her stuffed bear before falling asleep.

Koiwai smiled, seeing as how that was handled nicely. He would have to thank that team member for taking good care of Yotsuba later.

It was nearly the end of the fourth quarter and Yotsuba was still asleep. The captain had just finished speaking to his team, time out was almost over.

In unison, the team cheered. "YEAH!"

Yotsuba jolted up from her nap. "AAAH!" She screamed. "DID WE WIN?!"

The whole team laughed, their nerves cooling down a bit. Now they were ready to win this match.

"I see you're awake," Takao said. "The game's not over, but look! We're winning!"

He pointed at the scoreboard it read, _175-77_. Shutoku was clearly in the lead being the victor.

"Time-out over!" The ref called out. It was time for the players to head back to the court.

Yotsuba watched as the team walked back to the court. She jumped down from the bench and shouted, "GOOD LUCK, SHIN-CHAN!"

"Eh? Shin-chan?" One of the team members wondered as they all looked at Midorima. Takao flashed a smile. As for Midorima, he scoffed and turned away, pushing his glasses back. "Hmph."

Yotsuba waved as they continued the final quarter of the game to victory.

After the game, Koiwai waited patiently outside for Takao or Midorima to walk out with his daughter. What he didn't expect was the entire basketball team walking out. Yotsuba was sitting on a team member's shoulders as they were all still very excited even as the game had long ended.

Takao was the first to greet him. "Koiwai-san! How'd you like the game? Isn't Shin-chan pretty impressive?"

"I guess so," Koiwai replied. "Who I was really worried about was Yotsuba."

"She wasn't any trouble, at the start of the game that was pretty funny."

Koiwai chuckled, "I have to admit that was pretty funny."

"We're heading out for some ramen to celebrate." Takao said. "Wanna come along? The players really seem to like Yotsuba."

"Ramen sounds great, congrats on the victory."

"Thanks."

"Come on, Daddy, let's go!" Yotsuba cheered as the player ran ahead. Her father walked along with the rest of the team.

Takao stopped in his tracks, noticing his friend was still standing in the back. "Shin-chan? You know, if we don't hurry, we'll be left behind."

"I'm coming." He said, and his friend rushed after the others. Midorima let a smile form along his lips as he looked down at a drawing Yotsuba had given to him. "Tsh."

She was more than just a lucky item.

-END-

* * *

Just some side notes, 'four-leaf' translates to 'Yotsuba' which is part of the phrase, _yotsuba no kuroba _or 'four-leaf clover' which is what Midorima was referring to.

**Next Chapter: Yotsuba and Riko**


	3. Yotsuba & Riko

"So… Shutoku, huh?" Jumbo made his usual visit to the Koiwai household and Yotsuba was in the middle of telling her story about her day with the Shutoku basketball team.

"He said I was his lucky item! And because of me his shoots don't miss!"

Jumbo looked at Koiwai, making a face. "Lucky item?"

Koiwai waved his hand dismissively. "Don't ask."

"You... You guys went to Shutoku's game and didn't invite me?!"

"How are we going to call you in that amount of time?!" Koiwai retorted, surprised. "They invite us because of Yotsuba!"

YEAH! I WAS THE LUCKY ITEM!" Yotsuba added excitedly.

Koiwai looked over at Jumbo, annoyed with the look on his face. "What's that look for!?"

The doorbell rang and Yotsuba perked up. "Someone's at the door!"

"I'll get it!" Koiwai replied as he got up from the floor to answer the door. Fortunately, he was wearing pants this time. He opened the door and saw Midorima standing outside, with only the front gate separating them both.

"Ah, Shintarou." Koiwai approached him. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon."

"What brings you here?"

"I have something for Yotsuba. And you as well." Midorima said as he dug through a plastic bag.

"Wow, you got us something? I hope it's not too expensive."

"For Yotsuba," Midorima said as he handed Koiwai a recorder.

"That's cute." Koiwai replied, "She's never had an instrument before."

"Today's lucky item for Gemini is a recorder."

"Not this again!" Koiwai snapped.

"I have one for Taurus." He held up an egg-shaped object with a smiling face dressed in bright red.

"What is it?" Koiwai asked as Midorima handed it to him and grunted as he got his hands on it. "Oh, it's heavy!"

He was surprised the younger man had been able to carry it all the way here. But he figured since Midorima must work out, it wasn't a problem.

"Be careful. They are nesting dolls."

"Please tell me you don't have anymore!" Koiwai wheezed, keeping his grip on the porcelain doll.

"I don't," He blinked. "Are you alright?"

"Never better!" Koiwai responded. "Just how much are in here?"

"Ten."

"EH?!"

"You can keep those. I will not be needing them."

"Th-Thanks…!"

Midorima nodded. "Goodbye."

Koiwai watched him walk away before struggling back inside, waddling. Yotsuba ran up to him and stared curiously. "What's that?"

"Where on earth did you get that?" Jumbo interjected as he saw what Koiwai was carrying and took it from him since he saw his friend struggling.

Koiwai sighed in relief before handing Yotsuba the recorder.

"Wow! What's this; a blow dart?"

"It's a recorder."

Yotsuba took the recorder and blew hard, causing a loud, rustic whistling like nails on a chalkboard.

"Yotsuba, stop!" Her dad commanded.

Yotsuba smiled and held her recorder close, she loved her new recorder. She placed one of her fingers against a note and blew again only harder.

"Yotsuba!" Jumbo and Koiwai cried.

She stopped and looked up at them, smiling.

"Yotsuba, why don't you play that outside?" Koiwai said, his ears still ringing from the recorder screeching. Jumbo had pulled up every single doll and they were all set on the table in a row by size.

"I had no idea they had nesting dolls this size."

"Me neither." Koiwai responded. "But whatever comes from Shintarou is the strangest thing."

Yotsuba arrived at the park as usual. She was holding onto her recorder and had forgotten all about playing it and went to play on the playground. She slid down the slide and swung on the swings, then played on her recorder for a bit as some of her park friends had asked her to. It was fun, but then she grew bored and sat on the bench. As she looked over at the basketball courts, there were several guys playing basketball as there was a lone female with short, brown hair watching them go up and down the court. She went a bit closer out of curiosity and noticed the girl had a pink whistle in her mouth. She looked back at the court and spotted someone familiar, a tall, red-haired man was making slam dunks on the court. Apparently, he had committed a foul since the man in front of him had fallen over and the girl blew the whistle.

"Bakagami!" The girl scowled. "That nearly cost us the game last time!"

The man that had just fallen over, stood up rubbing his head. He had brown hair and a cat-shaped curve on his lips. "I'm fine!" He spoke up. "Just a flesh wound!"

"Ughh… Kagami-kun…" The girl facepalmed. "Alright, start again. And, don't mess this up, Kagami!"

As she was about to blow the whistle for the players to continue, Yotsuba blew hard on her recorder, playing a rough note shot through to their ears. They all turned their attention to the small, green-haired girl in pigtails who was smiling up at them. It wasn't until Kagami realized who this child was.

"Yotsuba-chan?" he said.

Yotsuba turned her attention to him. "Kagami!"

"EH?!" The group said in unison as they watched the small girl run over to the red head, arms spread out wide as if to embrace him and leapt at him.

Kagami picked her up and embraced her as she hugged his neck. "Kagami!"

He chuckled and set her down. "Funny seeing you here."

"I live here!" Yotsuba said cheerfully. "What are you doing?"

"Well, would you look at that? Kagami-kun has a girlfriend." The brown-haired girl, who went by the name of Riko Aido, teased. "Kagami, it's cute that you've reunited with your friend, but we have some training to do."

"Come to think of it, why are we in this park, anyway?"

One of Kagami's teammates, Teppei Kiyoshi wondered.

"You haven't been paying attention, have you, Kiyoshi?" Shinji Koganei replied as he recovered from the fall.

"I figured since this court was a lot bigger."

"Hey, little girl, where are you from?" Riko said as she bent down slightly, talking to Yotsuba.

Yotsuba pointed and said, "To the left."

"Huh?"

"I live to the left!"

"The left of what...?" She looked at Kagami for a straight answer.

Kagami shrugged in response, unsure of how to explain since he hadn't asked.

"So is your dad or someone else here with you?" Riko said, looking around.

"Oh! My dad said I can come here! He's at home with Jumbo!"

"J-Jumbo…?"

Yotsuba blew hard on the recorder again until Kagami stopped her. "Aww…"

"So what's your name, little girl?" Riko asked.

"I'm Yotsuba Koiwai!"

"Well, Yotsuba, wanna be our team manager for the day?"

"Yeah!" Yotsuba cheered. "What's that?

"Hmm… well, the next game isn't until… You can pass out snacks!"

"Yay! Can I pass out the snacks now?"

"Not yet!" Riko replied. "Alright, boys! Training starts now!" She blew her whistle and the entire team started to make their run around the park. Sure enough, Yotsuba joined them. She managed to run past a few of the first years, Koki Furihata, Koichi Kawahara, and Hiroshi Fukuda, then she passed Koganei who was cheering for her.

"Yotsuba-chan! GO!" His friend, Rinnosuke Mitobe smiled. She caught up to the basketball team's Captain, Junpei Hyuga who was running alongside Teppei.

"Eh?!"

"Hello!" She said, running past.

"Wh-What… just happened?"

"Aw, she's cute."

"There's something wrong if a kindergartener can pass us!"

Yotsuba ran past the entire team so she can catch up to Kagami.

"Kagami!" She cheered and waved at him.

"Y-Yotsuba-chan!"

He was trying to tell her to watch out, but a huge dog ran across from her she ran into it before falling over and stumbling onto the concrete. The entire team watched it happen and ran as fast as they could.

"Yotsuba! Yotsuba!" Koganei shouted.

"Are you okay?" Koki added.

It wasn't until Riko ran in. Apparently, Yotsuba had disappeared and she was trying to look for her. "What happened?"

Yotsuba was face down; she had landed in the sandbox.

"Where's Kagami?" Teppei asked looking around. "He was here when it happened."

"Yotsuba tumbled. _Tumble leaf._" Izuki said amusingly.

"Kill yourself already." Hyuga grumbled.

Mitobe made a face and saw Kagami hiding behind a tree as the dog was trying to follow him.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Riko sighed, helping Yotsuba out of the sandbox.

"Bleh!" Yotsuba spat out some sand that landed in her mouth from the fall.

"The sand pit turned into _sand spit_."

"Izuki, quit the basketball team right now." Junpei was not amused.

"Why don't you stay with me for now?" Riko said as she looked Yotsuba over, trying to see if there were any cuts or scrapes she had to clean up. She didn't think a girl like Yotsuba could have so much energy, it was overwhelming.

As the boys continued their workout, Yotsuba and Riko were watching them from the park bench.

"So how do you know Kagami-kun so well?" Riko asked after a long, comfortable silence watching her team go back and forth on the court, scoring and running after the ball.

"I met him in the park a few days ago!" Yotsuba explained. "He taught me how to play basketball and he let me dunk!"

Riko was surprised to hear Kagami was good with kids. He didn't have any patience on the court let alone babysitting. Maybe he wasn't always rough around the edges after all. "That's nice of him." She said. "So what do you do here with them?" Yotsuba asked, pointing to the guys on the court.

"Well, I'm their coach." Riko explained. "I keep them in good shape and I make sure they don't slack off. Like, right now." She stood up and shouted. "Furihata-kun! Kawahara-kun! I know you're benched players but mind the ball!"

"Yes, ma'am!" They both said in unison.

"A coach… what does that mean?"

"You sure ask a lot of questions." Riko chuckled, thinking of an answer. "It's kind of like a boss. For sports."

"Ooh…" Yotsuba was amazed. "My dad doesn't have a sport but he works. I have never seen his boss before."

'_I wonder who he works for._' Riko wondered.

"A coach… so Kagami has a job _and_ a boss." Yotsuba said, fantasizing. "Wow." She looked at Riko with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

'_I want to be just like you when I grow up… when I grow up… when I grow up.._'

Riko's heart was shot by a bullet as the words echoed in her mind. She had never heard anyone, any child, say that to her at all. _Never!_ She had never felt so happy before in her life. She was a role model in another person's eyes. She felt her eyes well up with tears. "I'll work very hard!" Riko said, crying.

"You can do it!" Yotsuba cheered.

_'What's going on over there?'_ The team wondered in their minds.

Afternoon had eventually passed and it was already noon. It was during the middle of another round of basketball, Yotsuba wanted to play.

"Are you sure?" Kagami asked, skeptical about the idea. He remembered accidentally hitting her in the face the other day, he couldn't imagine what a whole team could do if they had gotten clumsy on the court.

"I think it's a great idea!" Teppei replied.

Riko and Kagami were surprised. "What?!"

"You're not kidding with us, are you?" Riko said. "She's still a kid! What if you guys squish her?"

"We're a basketball team, no giants."

"I think it's a good idea!" Koganei spoke up. "We've been doing practice games all day, I think we can play with Yotsuba-chan for a bit."

"Alright, but if she starts crying you're taking care of her." Riko replied, shrugging.

"I can play?!"

"Yup!" Teppei smiled.

"To make this game a bit easier for Yotsuba, I'm cutting it down on the number of people. It's going to be a three-on-three game."

"Who's on my team?!" Yotsuba cried.

Teppei and Koganei shouted happily. "Me!"

"What are you, kids?!" Hyuga was shouting at his two teammates.

"Is Kagami playing?" Yotsuba was looking up at them expectantly.

"You sure? He might accidentally squish you." Riko replied.

"That's okay! He hit me in the face with the basketball and I turned out just fine!"

"That's not something to feel good about!" Kagami put in.

"Wow, Kagami, you really did that? I didn't think you were that rough!" Koganei teased.

"It was an accident!"

Riko blew her whistle to get them back on topic as Yotsuba blew her recorder as well.

"Let's just play before I go deaf at the end of the damned day!" Hyuga shouted.

During their little game, the rest of the team was watching them from the side as Teppei, Koganei, Kagami, Koki and Hiroshi were on the court playing with Yotsuba. It wasn't anything competitive, but at least Yotsuba was entertained. Koki passed the ball to Kagami but Yotsuba jumped in and took the ball.

"Nice, Yotsuba!" Koganei cried.

Thanks to Kagami showing her the ropes, and watching Midorima's game; she dribbled the ball and looked around. She noticed Teppei nor Koganei were open. She remembered seeing Midorima in the same situation, she wondered if she could do that, too. Riko was the first to notice.

_'Is that… is she trying to make a three-pointer? Can she be able to make that…?!'_

Of course for her height, the ball did feel a bit heavy but she managed to shoot the ball from half court. They were all surprised to see the ball go flying; they were expecting it to go over or bounce off the rim, but it landed with a flawless, _FWOOSH! _into the met.

"The…what _is _she?! Another one of the Generation of Miracles? Then she's probably the youngest of them all!" Hyuga was surprised that she had done that so flawlessly.

"Who's that?" Yotsuba asked, unsure who the Generation of Miracles were.

"You've got a lot to learn, kid." Hyuga said to her.

After an entire day of playing, it was time to call it a day. They were all walking out the park until Yotsuba suggested they get ice cream and followed her back all the way to her place, Koiwai was not amused.

"Yotsuba, what is this?" he asked as he saw her from the door and the entire basketball team outside.

"Ice cream!" She cried.

"Yotsuba, we don't have ice cream. Besides, you ate the last one, remember?"

"But…"

"We don't have any…"

Yotsuba looked at them with a shocked expression on her face, not believing what she is hearing.

"That's okay, Yotsuba." Riko said. "Maybe next time."

Yotsuba looked at Riko then back at her father.

"We'll come back next time, okay?" Riko said as she turned to walk away. She almost tripped as she felt a grab at her leg.

"No, no, no! Don't go!"

"Yotsuba!" Koiwai shouted as he tried to pry her off. "I'm sorry."

"No. no. no. no, _nooo!_"

"Yotsuba, please! Not now!"

Yotsuba began crying as soon as her dad managed to pull Riko out of her grip. "I'm really sorry about all this."

"That's alright, she wasn't a handful."

Yotsuba was still crying even after the entire team was leaving. "Hey, what's the matter, Yotsuba?" Jumbo had come back several minutes after they had left. "Look! I got ice cream!" She sniffled and looked up at him. "Ice cream…?"

"Yup!" he said. "Just enough to feed an entire basketball team! See?" He held up a huge cardboard tray of mini tubs of ice cream that had chocolate and strawberry. Of course, he was only saying this metaphorically. He had no idea the Seiren basketball team had dropped by.

"Basketball team..?" Yotsuba spoke up behind her tears.

"Yeah!"

She ran out her porch, screaming out. "COME BACK! COME BACK! ICE CREAM!"

"It was a figure of speech, Yotsuba!" Jumbo yelled out to her.

It took a few minutes before the entire team came back. "Hooray!" The team cheered.

"Holy cow!" Jumbo shouted. "I was just kidding when I said that." From that point on, it became an ice cream party and Yotsuba couldn't be happier. They were all excited about how Yotsuba scored the three-pointer so nicely.

"Although, it's a bit sad that Kuroko couldn't be here." Teppei said.

"Who's that?"

"He's one of our team members. He got food poisoning so he couldn't come today." Hyuga responded. "I'm pretty sure you'll like him. He's got a dog, too."

Ooh, a dog!"

Riko was sitting on the porch with Koiwai, watching her team socializing with Jumbo and Yotsuba as she ate her strawberry-marble ice cream.

"It's been a while since Yotsuba's had anyone to talk to." Koiwai said, breaking the long silence.

"Did something happen?"

"No. Just our neighbors went to go visit their grandparents' house over the summer." He explained. "So it was me and Yotsuba for a while. It wasn't until Kagami came along. She's taken a shine to him ever since they met."

"I see."

"She doesn't have any other siblings and I'm her only parent." He said. "So I'm glad she's met all these people this week. I'm sorry; you probably don't want to hear me blab on about Yotsuba's life."

"Oh, no. It's alright. I'm my dad's only daughter." Riko replied. "By the way, Koiwai-san. Do you know what size shirt Yotsuba is?"

"Small. Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

She looked back at Yotsuba, smiling. This was the day she officially made Yotsuba part of the team.

-END-

* * *

Think I left you guys hanging now, did I? Well, sorry this took weeks to update. I was under a lot of stress and I didn't really have time to continue this for weeks. Christmas is coming up. Merry Christmas, you guys! This chapter is probably a lot longer than the last. But, what can you do? I was improvising throughout the ending half. I've also been distracted a lot with wasting my time watching youtube videos, playing video games while doing absolutely nothing productive with my life. It's thanks to you guys' reviews that I was motivated in finishing it. Btw, who here has seen Season 2 yet? Omg. So intense. Atsushi is my spirit animal and Teppei is my husband. Askldfhsadfh I'm not sorry. I love Midorima and Junpei, too! I'm just a sucker for anime guys in glasses. w

P.S. I am fully aware that in this chapter, Junpei's name switched from Junpei to Hyuga. I just got lazy trying to fix it. I wrote these chapters in a notebook and also made some changes. Sorry this chapter is a bit choppy; otherwise, enjoy! :3

**Next Chapter: Yotsuba & Kise**


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